London Wildlife Trust and Peabody are launching a new community project to create Cockney sparrow friendly areas on housing estates in London.

Also known as the house sparrow (Passer domesticus), the Cockney sparrow was once a common sight in the capital.  Now the bird has all but disappeared, leaving London's skies to the more robust but distinctly less loveable feral pigeon (worth distinguishing from native, ‘natural’ woodpigeons, collared doves and stock doves).

The rate of decline of the sparrow is truly alarming, with populations decreasing by almost two-thirds between 1994 and 2001, according to the Breeding Bird Survey.  The sparrow is now on the Red List of British Birds - those of highest conservation concern.

Experts are at a loss to explain the sparrows’ decline, but it seems likely a combination of factors are to blame, including the ‘improving’ of old buildings, a lack of available nesting sites in new buildings, air pollution, and loss of feeding habitat. Domestic cats, natural predators such as sparrowhawks, and collision with windows and other factors all play their part too.

While more research is being undertaken, London Wildlife Trust and Peabody have pledged to help the embattled bird.  The Cockney Sparrow Project will involve Peabody residents and their neighbourhoods, including nearby schools and community groups, in wildlife-themed activities to raise awareness of their local environment.  Participants will be given the opportunity to help improve and maintain habitats for sparrows and other wildlife on Peabody estates.

London Wildlife Trust’s cockney sparrow project officer, Mark Pearson, is excited about the possibilities.

“Hands-on conservation is often seen as something that happens in the ‘countryside’, that mythical place many of us don’t have regular access to," says Mark. “But the built environment is a very important aspect of the bigger picture, and our inner cities have provided sanctuaries for lots of amazing birds and animals for hundreds, even thousands of years.

“They came with us as we made London the city we live in today, and have co-habited alongside numerous generations of Londoners.  Iconic species such as house sparrows, swifts, bats and house martins have been part of the capital’s local communities for longer than any of us, but because of modern environmental factors, we’re pushing them out, and fast.

“They need our help sooner rather than later, and there’s lots of small ways we can help them.  That’s why our project is so exciting – by reconnecting people and wildlife, everyone’s a winner, and we can really make a difference with the help of local communities.”

Cockney Sparrow activities will include:

• planting hedgerow species such as hawthorn and blackthorn to create the ideal, bustle-friendly bird habitat
• planting grasses and flowers to attract the protein-rich aphids, caterpillars and weevils that nestlings love to feed on
• community workshops to make roosting boxes for a host of species including bats, swifts, house martins and sparrows
• visits to wildlife reserves and green spaces in London
• training to record birds and wildlife on estates

Three Peabody estates in north London have been chosen for the first phase of the project, with launch events in Whitechapel, Kings Cross Ten and Pembury this August.  The project is expected to pick up steam as residents see the effects of their work and more species and birds are attracted to the estates.

“Cockney Sparrow is a great opportunity for Peabody residents and other local people to learn more about their environment and help protect London’s threatened wildlife" says Peabody’s Cockney Sparrow Project Manager Andrea Purslow.

“By improving wildlife habitat and involving people in conservation efforts, we hope to entice the cockney sparrow and other wildlife to return -- and make London a greener, even more vibrant place to live.”